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The cast of characters, from top to bottom, and from left to right in each picture, include Tom and Kelly, sitting next to Matt with kerchief head. Next is a photo of Jacque, Christine (of Tom and Christine), and again, Tom and Kelley. Rob is so great, and you may recognize him as the Pampered Chef, that he gets a picute all to himself. And then I finally decided to turn the camera on myself. Maybe that is why there are no other pictures. Maybe I broke the camera.
That was the cast for five nights and six days in Amsterdam. I am the only one not connected with the military in anyway, and the others are either civilians working on base, or married to civilians working on base. What a great time. I went with these six young folks from Sigonella, who claimed that even through they comprised three married couples, they still needed a mature and responsible chaperone. Of course once again I left my camera in my room, or my machina photografica in my camera, most of the time, so there were only a few pictures that I took. I did manage to get everyone's picture during the canal cruise that was included in our three day transportation and museum pass.

We all went to the Van Gogh Museum, and as usual it was stunning. I keep getting pulled into the work of the impressionists more and more, and it is always exciting for me to see them. This time, in a special exhibit of some of Van Gogh's still lifes, they showed some of the paintings of his contemporaries, and there was a beautiful painting of flowers done by Pisarro, one of Fran's favorites. It was like visiting an old friend.

I lolled around outside while the others went into the Reichsmuseum, as it still was not open in many parts due to the long restoration it is undergoing, and I felt like I had seen the Black Watch and the other fine Rembrandts and other paintings that were on exhibit enough over the last several years and visits.

Of course everyone wanted to go see the Anne Frank House, so I busied myself with other things rather than re-seeing that. I was able to get some shopping done, including buying new coffee makers (I break about two bodum French Presses per year), and getting a great CD at the FAME record store.

I went to the market and got a new beach caftan for the summer, and my friends also loaded up on souvenirs and gifts, particularly at the flower market, right around the corner from our apartment. Our apartments, by the way, were on the top two floors of a building that housed the Cat Museum (KattenKabinet) right on the Herrengracht canal, so the location was wonderful.

I would tell you more about what we did outside, and try to explain it, but as you can see, there is no explanation for it.